Case Studies

KMC Controls sought to develop a cost-effective solution to connect buildings, make them more energy efficient and safe, and help managers and owners intelligently understand and manage their properties.

One of the challenges to building automation is the multitude of non-interoperable communications protocols that have evolved over the years. Buildings have several islands of automation. Bridging the islands of different automation without losing the considerable investment in each specialized control network is the main focus in this solution.

Recently a university in Taiwan was experiencing dramatic power usage increases due to its growing number of campus buildings and students. Aiming to analyze their power consumption and increase their power efficiency across 52 buildings, the university wanted to build a power management system utilizing web-based hardware and software. With these goals in mind, they contacted Advantech to help them develop their system and provide them with the means to save energy in the years to come.

Software

AggreGate Building Automation is a powerful and flexible Building Management System (BMS). Its vendor-agnostic technology and open-source interfaces based on IT standards are extremely well suited for controlling all intelligent building systems.

Lucid pioneered behavioral efficiency and occupant engagement technology in commercial buildings. The company is now endeavoring to transform the energy management industry with an operating system for buildings. Lucid's BuildingOS aggregates energy and water data from 150+ metering and building systems into one unified source, including building automation, submeters, lighting and plug load controls, and on-site generation. Lucid’s Building Dashboard enables energy reduction competitions, showcases real-time building performance and green features, and empowers occupants to become active participants in energy management.

G ELEMENT PTE LTD is a Singapore-based company that develops 3D digital building products and solutions. Our corporate vision is the ubiquitous deployment of our 3D digital building technologies for buildings worldwide, enabling value in in-building operations and experiences for owners, tenants and visitors.

Events

Organizations

Eclipse IoT provides a set of services and frameworks that application developers can use for building M2M and IoT applications. These services will enable features such as device management, wired/wireless communication, and vertical solutions.The Eclipse IoT Working Group is a collaboration of industry and academic partners who are building a set of open source technology that will be the foundation for the Internet of Things (IoT). The focus of the collaboration is on building:1) open source implementations of IoT standards and protocols, 2) open source frameworks and services that will be used by IoT solutions, and 3) tools for IoT developers. The iot.eclipse.org web site is intended to be the source of information for people who want to use the Eclipse IoT technology.

Use Cases

Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) are computer-based systems that help to manage, control and monitor building technical services (HVAC, lighting etc.) and the energy consumption of devices used by the building. They provide the information and the tools that building managers need both to understand the energy usage of their buildings and to control and improve their buildings’ energy performance.HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) is the technology of indoor environmental control. Its goal is to manage air temperature, humidity and quality to meet the needs of both people and industrial processes. With low cost sensors, wireless connectivity and more powerful data processors, HVAC companies are now able to collect real time performance data and monitor the condition of their equipment. Remote monitoring solutions can monitor hard to reach areas and sites in order to alert staff to a breakage and heat or water damage in a cable. IoT can help the HVAC industry improve overall equipment effectiveness and save money by minimising equipment failure and optimizing energy usage and performance levels. Direct digital control: Central controllers and most terminal unit controllers are programmable, meaning the direct digital control program code may be customized for the intended use. The program features include time schedules, setpoints, controllers, logic, timers, trend logs, and alarms. The unit controllers typically have analog and digital inputs that allow measurement of the variable (temperature, humidity, or pressure) and analog and digital outputs for control of the transport medium (hot/cold water and/or steam). Digital inputs are typically (dry) contacts from a control device, and analog inputs are typically a voltage or current measurement from a variable (temperature, humidity, velocity, or pressure) sensing device. Digital outputs are typically relay contacts used to start and stop equipment, and analog outputs are typically voltage or current signals to control the movement of the medium (air/water/steam) control devices such as valves, dampers, and motors. Groups of DDC controllers, networked or not, form a layer of system themselves. This "subsystem" is vital to the performance and basic operation of the overall HVAC system. The DDC system is the "brain" of the HVAC system. It dictates the position of every damper and valve in a system. It determines which fans, pumps, and chiller run and at what speed or capacity. With this configurable intelligency in this "brain", we are moving to the concept of building automation.

Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) are used to locate persons or objects inside buildings, as opposed to GPS which works outdoors. IPSs impact asset monitoring and automation at the enterprise level. The technology is expected to bring in integration capabilities of analytical software tools with the existing maps and navigation software.

Structural health monitoring is a tool used to ensure the safety and soundness of structures. Structural health monitoring uses an assortment of sensors to collect and analyze data pertaining to any damage or deterioration that a structure may receive over the course of its life. The data that structural health monitoring systems acquire can help its users avoid structural failures.Numerous structural health monitoring systems are available. They differ by cost, quality, purpose and technology. They use many types of structural health monitoring devices and software systems to analyze the data retrieved from the devices. The type of structural health monitoring system that should be used is specific to the structure or structures being monitored.Structural health monitoring is used on structures such as bridges, skyscrapers, stadiums, wind turbines, ships, airplanes and many others.